


Break                the Barrier

by CrownedInMyCurls



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Angst and Feels, Drama, Heartbreak, Magic, Multi, Relationship(s), Rescue, Romance, Wands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 18:04:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10576617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrownedInMyCurls/pseuds/CrownedInMyCurls
Summary: Marco's life was never the same after Star left Echo creek.He didn't realize how much he needed her until she was gone.He missed her laugh, her smile, her big, blue eyes.But more than anything, he missed her magic.With a wave of her wand she had turned his dull, average life into something he had never imagined.She was the rebel Princess who lived up to her name and brightened the world, before disappearing forever and leaving him in darkness like a shooting star.Marco wants more than anything to see his best friend again, but now something stands in the way.Every time he tries to use his dimensional sissors to get to Mewni, he is stopped at a dead end.A mysterious barrier lies between earthen and magic worlds, and there is noway around it.Marco can sense that a powerful force is rising, and If he wants to protect Star from it he has to break the Barrier.





	

It had been two months since star left Echo creek.

The late summer sun beat town on the small, Godforsaken town a hammer, reminding everyone that they still had time to enjoy themselves before the fall rolled in.  
Marco was at another party, but he was feeling anything but festive. Lights decorated the wooden gates of Jackie’s backyard like stars, they were dull against the daylight but would soon come alive by nightfall. He leaned against a bench, a glass of lemonade in his hand and tuned the vibrating chatter of the people around him out. It faded into his own thoughts, almost as if he were slowly drifting underwater to be alone.

 

Even in the unbearable heat, Marco wore his hoodie. It started out as something to help him hide from the world, to cover up his insecurities so that no one could see them but him, and now it was his signature. An omen that made him stand out in a crowd. People saw it and called out his name, they knew who he was, and they spoke to him.  
He had crawled out of his shell and it into something entirely different over the past year.

And it was all because of one person.

Star.

She transferred to Echo creek high during the school year, and brought a beacon of light with her.  
Star was a girl who never feared anything, and played by no rules but her own.  
She taught him not to hide anymore, she taught him how to be free.  
He started to take chances, and face fears, and live the way he wanted.

But now everything was different.

Marco stared down into his glass, it was still full to the brim. The sliced lemons bobbed at the surface, but he wasn’t tempted to drink any.  
Instead he focused on the people around him. He watched in silence as they laughed, and smiled, and joked with one and other. It had been a while since he distanced himself from crowds, but he had tried and tried again to make conversation and found himself at lost for words everytime.  
Talking used to be so easy.

“Hey, Marco!”  
Jackie’s voice pulled him away from his thoughts, and the surrounding chatter of the people around him resurfaced again. He squinted to spot her through the crowd, and caught a glimpse of the trademark blue streak in her hair as she grew closer. She was waving to him, her freckles stretched across her face in a wide smile. He noticed that she was holding a plate of food, but couldn’t quite make out what was until she finally reached him.  
“I brought you some pizza nuggets!”

Jackie was always bringing him things.  
Over the past few months, she had been supportive beyond belief. She spoke to him when others wouldn’t, stayed by his side even in those moments when he couldn’t think of anything to say, and made him laugh whenever he was feeling down.  
Sometimes it still baffled him that he had such an amazing person as his girlfriend.

She kept him from drifting too far under water. A constant reminder of what things were like before the summer, before everything changed. She made him think of a time before he felt a sudden emptiness within him, a time where the world didn’t seem so distant. Her smile brought back memories of when he used to sit and watch her for hours on her skate board, working up the nerve to even wave. But it also brought back memories of the girl who inspired him to finally speak to her in the first place, long since gone. A sudden wave of sadness washed over him, and he brushed it away quickly, not wanting to worry her.  
Marco smiled, taking the plate in his hands and awkwardly placing a kiss on Jackie’s cheek.  
“Thanks, I was really starting to get hungry.”

It was a lie, of course. Marco hadn’t had a decent appetite in weeks, food never appealed to him anymore. He only ate because the people around him wanted him to, eventually it became easier and easier to pretend. Just like the lemonade, these pizza pockets would go untouched if Jackie was not around, but he would never tell her that.  
Marco picked one of them up hastily, and accidently scorched his fingertips on the cheesy surface. He hissed in pain and stumbled backwards on his feet, struggling to keep the tray balanced in his free hand. Jackie was there in an instant, holding her hands on his shoulders to support him. She steadied him with ease, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Are you okay?”  
They locked eyes for a moment and he pulled away first, brushing off his hoodie. It seemed like he never ceased to be embarrass himself around Jackie, to make her worry when he wanted her to be happy. He released a heavy sigh, and smiled reassuringly.  
“Yeah, I’m alright. You know how clumsy I can be sometimes.”

Her face relaxed, and Marco exhaled in relief. He didn’t want her be stressed at a time where everyone was supposed to be festive, she threw this party to give people a chance to enjoy themselves before the summer died for another ten months. He couldn’t ruin it with a fake smile, something that was usually so easy to pull off.  
She laughed and a ran a hand through her blonde hair, revealing the numerous piercings in her right ear.  
“Are you sure? I can grab you some ice.”

“No, No. It’s fine.”  
He was surprised at how blunt his voice sounded, like he was pulling away from her more than just physically. Maybe it was because things weren’t fine, they hadn’t been fine for months. He was dragging himself along for the happiness of someone else, but he wasn’t quite sure if he was happy anymore. He wasn’t sure if he was drowning or if the people around him were just more adapted to the water, it all became a big blur that he decided to ignore.  
Jackie had noticed his sudden change in mood as well, and her smile faded only slightly. She stepped towards him, hesitant to close any space, and held his free hand, the one he had burned only moments ago.  
Her fingers were cold to the touch, which seemed to soothe the pain. His face didn’t erupt in heat like the first time she ever held his hand, he’d grown used to it over the past few months.  
Even so, the movement seemed more sudden than casual. 

“Marco, lately you’ve been looking a little...stressed. Is something wrong?”

The question caught him off guard and he laughed nervously, bristling. He avoided her dark green gaze, focusing on the grass beneath his feet.  
“Jackie, if there was something wrong, I would tell you-”

“It’s Star, Isn’t it?”

The silence was almost as painful as the fact that it was true. Lies were easy to tell, lies were easy to listen to, but the truth felt like a knife, and hearing it come out of Jackie’s mouth hurt more than anything.  
He stood there a moment, looking at her as if he’d been slapped. 

She continued, never breaking eye contact.  
Something about her voice sounded slightly apologetic, but Marco couldn't catch it.  
“I know you miss her Marco, and it’s okay to feel sad about it. You can always talk to me, you know that, right?”

In all his years of knowing her, it was the first time he had ever seen Jackie seem so real, vulnerable on a physical level as low as he was. In the past, She always seemed so distant, even when they were dating. Not emotional wise, but in a way that made her seem unapproachable. Out of everyone’s league, too cool to really talk to, a mirage of something he’d never have.  
Now she was right there in front of him, holding his hand, and asking him to speak to her. To really speak to her, to act as if he had never worshiped the ground she walked on at one point.  
She was a real human being that bled just like him, that could hurt just like him.  
But for some reason, he was at lost for words.

“Jackie...I’m okay, I promise. Things have been a little hard without Star, but I can manage. I’m worried about her, but deep down I know she can handle this. I...I just don’t know if I can-”

A sharp noise blasted through the sound system, cutting him off. Music began to vibrate through the crowd, sending the party into a frenzie. Energy radiated off the bodies of the people around him as they began to dance to the fast paced beat, swinging their hips and bouncing on the balls of their feet. Marco’s voice was drowned out by some rap song he didn’t know, and he was left to stutter in confusion. Some part of him was glad about being interrupted, and another part felt guilty.  
The lie had slipped past his lips so easily, just like the millions of times it had before.  
He had said that he was fine, that nothing was bothering him and he was perfectly capable of continuing on like this, and then the truth started to seep through the cracks. He wanted to lie again, but something on the inside stopped him. He wondered if Jackie had noticed too, but couldn’t force himself to meet her eyes again. He looked up only when he felt her grip on his hand tighten, and was surprised to see that she was smiling.

Miraculously, he heard her soft voice through the music. “Let’s go somewhere where we can be alone.”  
Marco nodded, handing the plate of pizza pockets to the closest person as they drifted through the sea of swarming teenagers.  
He was silent as Jackie lead him to God knows where, unsure of what to say, not exactly wanting to object.  
He had to get away from all of the other people, that was for sure. The party made him feel like he was underwater, struggling to stay on top of it all. It would be relief to just breath.  
He held her hand firmly, searching for some kind of comfort. The crowd drifted away from them, and the music faded as they grew further and further away.  
Marco noticed that the unbearable heat had begun to subside, and not only because he was getting away from other people, but because the day was slowly dying.  
The sun had begun to melt in the sky, slowly but surely, dripping bits of blazing orange into the fading clouds. 

Jackie suddenly stopped walking and turned back to face him, there was a faint sparkle in her green eyes. They were fringed with dark lashes, and squinted in just the right way when she smiled. Marco looked away immediately, focusing on the ground again. Jackie’s beauty was a distraction that had kept him dazed for years, it made the hairs of the back of his neck stand up on end and the butterflies in his stomach restless. He was unable to think straight when he focused on her directly, unable to worry, unable to speak, which is why he stopped. The raging ocean in his mind was vast beyond belief and her smiles kept him from drowning, her eyes kept him from sinking too far under the violent waves, her laugh was like a lifeboat.

Except he didn't want to be saved.

He wanted to worry, he wanted to fret, he wanted to miss Star.  
He wanted to drown.

 

Marco kept his eyes on the teal painted tips of her fingernails, afraid to let them wander anywhere else. He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, smiling nervously.  
“So.. where are you taking me?”

He realized that they had left the dancing mass of people behind, and were standing near the side of Jackie's house. It was about medium sized and had white paneling. The architecture was very simple, but it had always caught his eye in the past.  
He'd walked past it millions of times before, knowing that she lived there, afraid to approach it. It was nothing like the vast halls of the Mewnian castle where he'd wander for hours on end, fascinated by the paintings on the walls. But it had something about it. Something that made him feel nervous and unsure of himself, out of place, like he shouldn't be there at all. Just like now. Some part of him felt guilty about being alone with Jackie, but he couldn't place why.

She grinned and gestured to the fire escape on the side of the house, a metallic ladder that lead all the way up to the roof.  
“Wanna see something cool?”

Marco nodded, finally meeting her eyes. She looked so sure of herself, Jackie always looked sure of herself. She was calm and collected, and never let anything affect her. She enjoyed the normal things in life, skateboarding late at night, throwing parties, chatting with Marco over the phone when he couldn't sleep.  
Somehow being around her made him calm too, it made him want to be sure of himself. But deep down, he knew that that was impossible. He knew that there was only one person that could make him feel like that, free of worry, free of sadness.

He released a shaky sigh and watched as Jackie scaled the side of her house. Her feet disappeared onto the roof, trails of rocks and gravel fell from the soles of her blue converse.  
Her blonde hair peeked over the edge like a halo, it seemed to be glowing faintly in the fading sunlight. Much like the lights decorating the gates, slowly coming alive as the sun sunk in the sky. She smiled, and waved down at him, casting a shadow in the grass below her.  
“Dude, come on up!”

He raised an eyebrow, staring back up at her uncertainly.  
“Uh, are you sure that's safe?”

She laughed, and it made Marco feel almost embarrassed and intrigued at the same time.  
“Just come up here man, you'll miss it if you're not fast enough.”

That was enough to make him climb the fire escape himself, gripping onto the the cold bars and hoisting himself up onto the roof behind her.  
What he found waiting for him was like nothing he had ever seen before.  
The roof was covered in bright lights, though they weren't like the kind on the gates, they were shaped like actual stars. So realistic that Marco had to convince himself that he wasn't staring at the night sky. He stood there a moment, at lost for words.

“This is….amazing.”

“There's a better view over here.”

Jackie was sitting on a navy blue blanket near the edge of the roof, her legs curled into the shape of a v.  
She smiled, patting the open spot next to her, and Marco cautiously walked over and sat down, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“So, you come up here all the time?”

“Yeah, it's cool, right?”

“Yeah.”

A gust of wind rattled the trees and sent leaves trailing through the air, they were a dull green. A reminder of the dying summer. Marco shivered and pulled his Jacket tighter around himself, shielding his body from the cold. Noticing this, Jackie moved a bit closer to him, closing the space for warmth. He placed his arm around her as a reflex, because he had done this plenty of times before, and she leaned against him.

Moments like this used to make Marco nervous, now he was used to them.  
They didn't make him warm and flustered, because they were expected.  
The party continued below them, but the guest looked like blurs of shadows in the distance. Swinging and dancing with red cups in their hands as the music sent them into a hypnotic frenzy.  
The sky above them seemed to be ablaze, like someone lit a match and threw it into the clouds. Orange and red flames licked the horizon, dancing in the atmosphere like birds made of fire. The sun made desperate last attempts to be seen as the day was ripped away from it for the thousandth time and night began to rise, a fist fight that took place at dawn time and time again.  
It really was a nice view.

Jackie's voice broke the silence, and he was almost startled.  
“I came here a lot when I was little. You know, when I wanted to just be alone. I'd crawl out my window, sit outside, and just watch the sky as it caught fire. I figured you get like that sometimes, and I just thought we could maybe be alone together.”

Marco couldn't help but smile. This new side of Jackie was amusing, personal, real. He had admired her for so long, but never knew a single thing about her. It felt nice to know, it made him look at her a new light.  
But only in that moment.

“Thanks, Jackie”

Without thinking, he kissed her.  
He expected the same feeling from before. He wanted the sky to catch fire inside of him, for flames to lick up the sides of his heart, and for fireworks to streak through the darkness of his mind. To wake him up permanently so that he felt free, free like the birds made of fire in the sky, free to crawl out of the vast ocean for good. To eat pizza pockets and have a real appetite for them, to drink a whole glass of lemonade. To not have to lie for once, to never have to wear a fake smile again.  
Except, he felt nothing.

It was like he was hollow on the inside. He could feel the chilly wind whip through him and he could hear the trees rattle above them, but he felt absolutely nothing. Nothing but cold, nothing but wind, nothing but lies.  
He pulled away to gasp for air, and saw the the sunset had ended. The world was cloaked in darkness, and the lights surrounding them had finally come alive.  
Jackie's face was barely illuminated by the plastic stars, but he could tell that her eyes were glistening. They were large and doe like, glazed over like emeralds. She felt fire when they kissed, it was obvious enough, but he had felt nothing.  
“Wow.”

Guilt attacked him almost immediately and he focused his attention on the sky. It was pitch black, despite the fact that the day had just ended. He noticed that the stars were just coming into view, the real kind, not the plastic ones Jackie had decorated the roof with. They were faint and far away, and made something on the inside ache.  
They reminded him of someone who was even further away. Someone who could make him feel alive, who could light the match inside of him.  
Out of reach, glowing faintly in the back of his mind, always on his mind.  
His best friend.  
His thoughts became diluted with her eyes, her laugh, her smile, the hearts on her cheeks.  
Would he have felt differently if she were sitting in the roof with him?

He winced, and his arms dropped to his sides. Jackie tried to hold his hand again, but he avoided her touch. There was so much guilt. Guilt for kissing Jackie, guilt for not wanting to kiss Jackie, guilt for missing Star.  
Guilt.

Jackie smiled at him, tilting her head uncertainly.  
“Something wrong?”

He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. His hoodie suddenly felt to warm, suffocating, like he needed to get away.  
“No, I just realized that I'm out past my curfew that's all. My parents are probably gonna call soon.”  
Lies.

Jackie laughed, standing up and holding out and hand for him. He took it, and brushed off his jeans.  
“Need me to walk you home?”

“Nah, I got it. The parties looking really fun, wouldn't want you to miss anymore of it.”

Jackie had started to say something more, but Marco was already climbing down the fire escape, his sneakers tailing rocks and gravel on grass below him as he neared the ground.  
She peered over the edge of the roof again, watching him walk away.  
“You sure?”

He waved through the darkness, flashing a half smile.  
“Yeah, no worries.Thanks for the party, Jackie! I'll call you when I get home, Okay?”

“Okay!”

He sauntered through the mass of people once more, alone this time, and closed the gates behind him.  
Once away from the party, away from Jackie, away from everything, he stood on the barren sidewalk and exhaled in relief.  
What a day.

The night air was cold and crisp, despite the fact that it was still summer. Another reminder of the upcoming fall, almost a threat. Soon he'd have to go back to school, and without Star.  
Since the day she left, he had noticed the change in everything.  
He didn't like Jackie the way he used to, he wasn't excited about the upcoming school year like he used to be, he wasn't enjoying the summer like he used to.  
It seemed like everything changed for the worst without her, and he couldn't explain why. 

There was no explanation for why he wanted to be on Jackie's roof with her either, watching the sky as it caught fire.  
No explanation for why he wanted to get away from everyone, even Jackie.

Sometimes it hurt to think about her, and sometimes he just couldn't resist.

The rebel Princess who lived up to her name, came and left like a shooting Star. She brightened his dull, average life and then disappeared into the night, leaving him to sulk in darkness.  
What was he supposed to do without her?

Marco stumbled on a rock, lost in his thoughts, and realized that he was standing on his own doorstep.  
At times, thinking distracted him from everything.  
He shook the thoughts away, and knocked on the door.  
Mrs. Diaz answered, and greeted him with a grin. “Marco, you're home early.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, searching his mind for an explanation.  
“I..Uh, ate too many pizza pockets. I felt a little sick so I decided to come home.”

“Oh, a tummy ache. Do you need your special medici-”

“No, mom!”

Marcos face flushed in embarrassment, and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “I just need to lay down, that's all.”  
His mother nodded in understanding, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
“Okay, honey. Your father's making tacos for dinner, you're free to come down to eat if you're hungry.”

“Thanks, Mom.”  
He smiled at her, just to reassure her that everything was alright, and walked up the steps to his room. The hallway was dark and vacant, but felt warm thanks to his father's cooking. His house always felt warm, it was a relief from the outside world. Even in the winter months, a draft never made it's way through the walls. He felt safe here, protected.  
But the girl that needed the most protecting, was not in this house.  
He sighed deep and heavy, listening to the quiet sound of his footsteps against the carpet.

When he passed the room that used to be Star's, he looked away immediately, almost wincing. He had avoided it time and time again, just glancing at the door brought pain. He used to search it high a low, in the first weeks after Star left. Turning over every pillow, peering under the bed, even flipping over the entire mattress just to see if he could find a remaining trace of her.

A lock of blonde hair, a multicolored sock, a Love sentence CD.  
He couldn't see how an entire girl and her room could disappear in a matter of seconds, it just didn't make sense.  
But then again, Star didn't make sense either.

He let his hand trail against the wall, tracing every crack in the paint, every forgotten memory engraved into his house, and passed the room quickly, not wanting it to cross his mind again. It only brought sadness, memories that stung because they were only memories and nothing more.  
He reached his room, but for some reason he couldn't open the door. His hand hovered over the door knob, and a voice inside of his mind screamed at him to look back. To look back at Star's room, to remember everything that happened inside, to stop trying to forget.  
Sweat beaded his brow, and his fingers began to shake.  
He wanted to open the door, but he couldn't resist the anonymous calls.  
Marco spun on his heel and charged for the door all at once. He stopped dead center in the middle of the hallway when he saw the faint glow, red and familiar, coming from under it. It set the hallway ablaze like blood drenched night light, only illuminating itself and him, everything else was shrouded in darkness.  
Taking a shaky breath, he cautiously stepped towards it. The light grew brighter, seeming to grow in power with his presence.  
There could only be one thing emitting a glow like that.

Marco swung open the door to see the blood moon.  
Bright, and red, and ominous in Star's window. Covering the plain bed room in it's crimson luminescence. His mouth gaped open and closed like a fish as he raised shaking finger.

The door closed behind him so slowly that he didn't even hear the faint click, and he was left alone to stare at it in shock.  
The blood moon only happened once every one hundred years.  
What was it doing here?

He rubbed his eyes frantically, convincing himself that he was only seeing things, that this was all his imagination but when he opened them it was still there.

Still looming, unearthly and disturbing in the sky.  
It's presence felt like a person's, like a living entity was standing right Infront of him, comforting and demanding all at the same time.  
It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up.  
Gulping, he decided to say something, anything.

“Uh..W-what do you want?”

There was only silence.  
Silence and embarrassment.  
He was standing there, screaming in the dark like a madman. Screaming at nothing but the moon.

He started to turn and leave, but his feet stayed planted to the ground. As if encased in vats of cement instead of standing firmly on the carpet, fear crept up his spine.  
Marco struggled to raise a foot off the ground, and was pulled to the floor by an unknown force. He gripped on to the carpet, gritting his teeth.  
He couldn't run, he couldn't move, he could only stare at the red light surrounding him.  
All at once, the voice filled his head.  
He couldn't describe the way it sounded, it was like an outside thought had eased itself into his mind so casually that he was partially convinced it was his own.  
It echoed inside of him, sending a chill through his body.

Use the scissors, boy.

A raging hot pain hit him in his side so severely that he cried out, and bit his lip until it bled. It was sizzling in his pocket, searing through the fabric of his hoodie until it touched his bare stomach.  
His dimensional scissors.

He pulled them out of his pocket so fast that he barely felt the scorching metal against his skin.  
They slid across the carpet, illuminated in the red moonlight.  
His name flashed back at him, as if freshly engraved into the metal.

 

He had tried and tried again to get to Mewni, and failed. He would imagine the kingdom in his mind, Star's face and her bright blue eyes, the submissive villagers.But the portal just refused to open.  
Eventually, he gave up.  
But only after he had aimlessly swiped the scissors through the air again and again and got nothing, only after he had imagined the land of Mewni so frequently that it permanently engraved itself into his mind, only after he had sobbed alone in his room knowing that he would never see Star again did he give up.

Why would they work now when had tried so many times before?

Still the voice remained.

Use the scissors.

 

He reached for them cautiously, afraid that they would burn him again, and was surprised to find that they were cold to the touch. He held the scissors uncertainty in hands, watching them reflect the moon's rays. The fear that it would erupt into flames if he didn't act fast enough drove him to his feet.  
Taking deep breaths, he cut a thin line into the air.  
He expected nothing, just like always, but the line began to expand, growing into a medium sized circle.  
He gawked at it in disbelief, his hand dropping limply to his side.  
It had opened.  
He had created a portal to Mewni after all this time.  
And the first thing that came to his mind was Star.  
Star and her big, blue eyes, Star and her wild blonde hair, Star and the rosy hearts on her cheeks.  
Star.

The voice interrupted his own private thoughts again, and his attention was drawn back to the blood moon.

Go to her, you're running out of time.

In a single movement, he stepped through the portal.  
And he was met with nothing.

Usually he'd appear right in the great Hall of Mewni when he crossed dimensions, but he only saw darkness around him. Darkness and a faint glow in the distance.  
There was something about that it that was startlingly familiar.  
It was shaped like a star.

Marco was racing towards it before it even came together in his mind.  
That was Star's wand.

His footsteps echoed as he grew closer, and he could only hear his own heavy breathing. Her wand seemed so close, so easy to reach, no longer far away. Not distant like the stars in the sky, not cold like kiss on Jackie's roof, close.  
Close and warm.  
It was like he was drawing nearer to the sun, like someone had lit a match inside of him and the raging flames licking up the sides of his heart were urging him to run, run.

He held both hands out, feeling the heat he had craved for two long months on his fingertips, feeling the smiles, and the laughter, and the fun that had been gone for far too long. Where there was Star's wand there was Star, and where there was Star there was happiness. He would no longer be drowning, he would no longer be alone.  
He would have his best friend again.

He could almost see her face coming into view, illuminated by her wand’s magic. He could see her relieved smile, the tears, the long awaited hug.

“Star!” He screamed, “Star, I finally found you-”

Marco ran head first into a brick wall.  
Pain filled his very being, as if the surface had been covered in acid. He fell flat on the ground, writhing in pain. He felt a trickle of blood drip from his nose, and tasted it on his tongue.  
His skin felt like it was on fire, like something was bubbling and burning under his clothing. Like someone had finally lit that match, and then set him ablaze.  
His cries went unheard, echoing through the darkness for only him to hear.  
And then it was over.

He sat straight up, panting, a hand over his rapidly beating heart. The wall in front of him glowed ominously through the dark, a faint green hue radiating through the cracks of large, onyx bricks.  
He shook his head at it disbelief, the star he had been chasing disappeared to reveal a wall.  
It was all just in his head, a trick he had played on himself.  
It was sad, almost laughable, that he would ever believe finding Star would be that easy.  
After all, he was just a human boy.

He stood up shakily, his knees weak.  
He was alone in the dark, staring at a wall.  
Exactly where he had started in the first place.  
Maybe it was all hopeless, maybe he would never see his best friend again.  
In an instant, he sunk back under water, allowing himself drown again.

No.  
No he couldn't just lay there.  
What would come after this? Would he just return to his old ways? Return to lying to everyone, return to the guilt, return to being alone. What was to become of him? What was the the use in returning to his old life if he didn't even like the way it was. He needed Star, he needed her to brighten his life again, to brighten everyone's life.

With a shaky breath, he dove for the wall again.  
Pain.  
Pain erupted against his skin like a rash, he stumbled back, rubbing his shoulder.  
It was like every time he made contact with the wall, it stung. Like there was a coat of acid slathered against the bricks, and anti- Marco barrier.  
Biting his lip until it bled, he dove for it again. More pain, not a single brick budged.

Another time, and the same results.

Marco sunk to his knees, breathing heavily, tears clouded his vision. The blood moon had told him to hurry, and he wasn't fast enough. Human boys weren't fast enough to catch Mewnian girls.  
Why did he ever think he stood a chance?

Maybe he was losing his mind, but he swore he could almost feel Star's presence. Standing on the other side of the wall in her favorite, green dress, beaten and broken just like he was. Defeated by a few measly bricks, doubting her very existence.  
Somehow it made him feel better, just to linger on the thought that his best friend was struggling to get to him as much as he was struggling to get to her.

He wiped the blood from his nose and stood to his feet again, his legs wobbling under his own weight.  
He spat on the ground and limped so that he was face to face with the wall. Closing his eyes, he placed his hand against the glowing surface.  
It didn't hurt as much this time, only a faint sting against his skin. He held it there firmly, and felt something warm press against it.  
His eyes watered over, and tears ran down his cheeks.  
He could really feel her, he could feel star on the other side.  
He didn't care if it was only in his head anymore, he felt Star's hand against his.

This meant that nothing would keep them apart. That one day they could break down this barrier between their worlds and be together again. He would hear her laugh again, see her smile, he would even lay an old blanket down on the roof with her so they could watch as the sky caught fire.

One day, they'd be together, and no wall was going to be the judge of that.


End file.
